


Storytellers

by me_and_phil



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 21:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15446241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/me_and_phil/pseuds/me_and_phil
Summary: Written for the 2018 Summer Phandom Games. Prompt from @writing-prompt-s on tumblr.Prompt:Imagine you live in a society with no money, no bartering. Instead, stories are currency. To buy your groceries you have to tell the cashier a funny childhood memory. To buy a car you need to relay a life-changing moment. The bigger the purchase, the more traumatic or incredible the story has to be. Write about the story you tell to buy your first house.





	Storytellers

For Phil, it was when a pile of law textbooks being slammed down onto the counter he was knelt under. He had lurched backwards, caught of guard by the loud “thud!”, and hit his head on the edge of the counter.

“Geez….” Phil muttered, rubbing the back of his head. He straightened, eyes watering. 

“Shit, are you okay? Um, sorry for startling you. I didn’t realize anyone was behind there.” Phil could barely make out the young man anxiously folding and unfolding the corners of the textbook on top of the stack. 

“I’m fine.” He blinked, clearing his eyes and finally got a look at who he was talking to. He looked to be around nineteen or twenty, younger than Phil was surely. He had dark hair that complemented his dark eyes. Phil loved long dark hair and had always wished that his hair was naturally dark. instead, he had to bottle dye it. Phil tore his eyes away from the pretty boy and began to sort through the textbooks instead. 

“Examples & Explanations: Contracts, Sixth Edition, Questions & Answers: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies...just planning on a night of light reading then?” Phil asked, smiling. He tried to phrase it like a joke, but really, he was wondering how this jumpy, fidgety boy who looked to be built of anxiety ended up being a law student. 

The boy smiled in return but quickly looked away from Phil’s eyes. “Ha, I’m actually a law student at Manchester. First year. Can you tell?” He was biting what was left of his thumb nail now that Phil had taken the books away from him. 

Yes. “No.” Phil said, but he could tell he didn’t say it convincingly. These were pricey textbooks. Phil hated big purchases. Hearing people’s stories was why he had decided to be a cashier in the first place; other people’s memories and viewpoints of the world helped him with his writing and film editing. However, when expensive items like textbooks or first-editions of books published decades ago were bought, the price never made for a good storytime.

“So, that’s going to be the story of the first time you didn’t fully trust your parents, and a memory of a lost loved one.”

The boy winced and drew his hand away from his mouth. “Damn. Why are textbooks so expensive?”

Phil nodded sympathetically. “I understand. I’m working on my masters right now. I’m Phil, by the way.”

“I’m Dan.” The boy thought for a minute. “I was nine years old, and I had woken up from a really bad nightmare. I grabbed a torch and went to run downstairs to my parents room. I had forgotten it was Christmas eve, and when I saw my parents placing presents under our tree, I was confused. Then I realized that it wasn’t something I was supposed to see, so I ran back to bed. The next morning, I understood Father Christmas wasn’t real, and I told myself I was never going to trust my parents again.” Dan smiled.

Phil laughed. “That’s a common answer, believe it or not.” Phil was trying to picture a smaller version of the boy in front of him, red-faced and angry. The little boy crossed him arms and jutted out his lower lip, pouting about how Father Christmas was all a lie. 

“As for the other one”, Dan continued, “my grandfather was a great man. He taught me everything I know. How to ride a bike, how to balance a checkbook, how to cook pasta- hey did you know you have to boil the noodles in water?” 

Phil realized this was a genuine question. “Yes...did you not?! How did you think they cooked?!”

Dan immediately turned red. “I don’t know! I thought that just the heat of the stove made them soft!” 

Phil laughed, tears returning to his eyes. “That’s incredible. Go on then.”

Dan smiled wider, and his hands stopped twisting the bottom of his t-shirt. “Well, my grandfather really wanted me to have a lucrative job I could be proud of. He always wished my dad would be a lawyer, so when he wasn’t, I think my grandfather turned that dream to me. This is all for him.” Dan gestured to the books on the counter, and the scared look he had before crept back into his eye. 

Phil understood now. This boy was ambitious. He had so much strength, but it was all being misplaced in a dream that he obviously didn’t share. He bagged the textbooks and pushed them back towards Dan.

“Well thank you so much for sharing Dan. I hope you find happiness in what you do. I’m sure whatever that is, your grandfather would be proud of you. It sounds like he loved you a lot.”

Now Dan was the one with tears in his eyes. “Thank you...Phil. I appreciate that.” 

Phil watched Dan take his textbooks and walk out the shop’s front door. He leaned on the counter and kept watching until Dan turned the corner and was truly gone. 

“I wonder if I’ll ever see that boy again.” Phil sighed. 

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Dan, it started with a bag of marshmallows and a bottle of blackcurrant Ribena rolling up the conveyor belt to his cash register.

What kind of person comes to Asda for a bottle of Ribena and some marshmallows?, Dan thought to himself. He scanned the items and turned to ask the customer if they’d like a bag. Looking up, he realized the young man standing in front of him was the clerk from the bookstore he’d visited almost six months ago. He would recognize those blue eyes anywhere. Dan blushed at how cheesy that sounded in his head. 

“Hey”, the boy with the black hair (that had to be dyed right? It seemed to absorb light. Plus, he had such light coloured eyebrows…) said. “You’re the law student right? Dan?”. 

He phrased it like a question, but Dan knew that he had remembered his name. Dan saw it in the way his eyes softened a bit, and the corners of his mouth pulled up. That made Dan incredibly happy, because he hadn’t forgotten Phil either. He had contemplated going back to that bookstore multiple times in the last few months in search of Phil, but he had always stopped himself. At first it was because he didn’t want Phil to realize what a total embarrassing idiot he was. Then it was because he never really left his small, cold dorm room much anyway. Eventually it was because he didn’t want Phil to find out that he’d had a breakdown and was contemplating quitting law school. 

“Yeah! How have you been Phil? How are the books?” Dan smiled. Had he made the right move there? He made it so obvious that he remembered Phil, what if he thinks that’s weird?

Phil just laughed. “They’re a musty and dusty as ever.”

“Wouldn’t that be your job to make sure they aren’t musty or dusty?” Dan teased. 

Phil smirked and raised his eyebrows saying, “isn’t it your job to check me out?”

Oh don’t worry. I am. Dan thought before he could stop himself. Thankfully, what he said was, “Ribena and marshmallows don’t cost as much as law textbooks, so I’ll only need a fun childhood memory please.”

Dan watched the way Phil’s mouth turned from a smirk into a wide-toothed grin. 

“Okay”, Phil began, “When I was in secondary school, me and my friends would film silly videos together in the neighborhood. I found one the other day of a slasher film we created. It’s so dumb, we walked around pretending to stab each other and ruining our clothes with ketchup aka ‘fake blood’. Those were really fun times.” Phil giggled, and Dan could feel his heart melting. 

“Wow. That sounds like so much fun. I love that kind of thing. Storytelling and acting. I wanted to be a real actor when I was younger, you know.” Dan smiled sadly. 

“Really? Why didn’t you go to school for acting then?” Phil’s eyes widened. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to know. 

Dan sighed. “It’s a hard profession to get into. And who knows if I’d be good at it anyway. But hey, maybe I should look into it some more. I think...I think I want to quit studying law.” That last part came out as barely a whisper. Dan hadn’t admitted that to anyone other than himself before.

Phil was obviously shocked, but to Dan’s surprise, Phil almost immediately began smiling again. The soft smile he had when he said Dan’s name. 

“I think you should. When you bought those textbooks, I wondered why you wanted to study law in the first place. I’ve been worried about you since.” Phil blushed and coughed a little bit. Dan wondered if he had meant to say that. “I understand you want to make your family, especially your grandfather, proud, but...you should do something you love.”

Dan hadn’t been expecting this response. He never expected someone to agree with him about this. It felt as if he was throwing his life away. He was so terrified of making the wrong decision. “Really?”

Phil nodded, “Really. When does your shift end? I have some friends who are writers and actors and storytellers. They can tell you all about how to get started in performing arts. And you know, I can help you too. When I’m not at the bookstore, I’m a film editor you know. I’m in the process of making that a full-time thing.” Phil looked nervous now, like Dan might reject him.

Why would Dan reject him when Phil was offering him everything he’d ever wanted? Friends, a career doing something he was passionate about, and...maybe...something that was a bit more than a friendship.

Dan was getting ahead of himself. Before his brain could keep fantasizing this dream life, Dan replied. “Yes! That sounds amazing actually. I get off at 5.” 

“Awesome!” Phil was bouncing on his toes. “I’ll be back by then okay? I’ll text some of my friends to meet us at the Starbucks down the street. Unless...would you mind just getting coffee with me?”

Dan grinned. “I’d love to.” Definitely more than friends then.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, thank you both so much! I love hearing stories about falling in love. Hearing about the moments people first realize that they’re falling are my favorite! And the two of you, you have a couple of great ones. Let me just go grab the paperwork, and you’ll be on your way to being official homeowners!” The realtor stood up and smiled before leaving her office. 

Phil grabbed Dan’s hand, “Can you believe this? We’re going to have a house! With a garden! And a dog!”

Dan laughed and squeezed Phil’s hand, threading their fingers together. “I don’t quite think that the house comes with the dog, but yes Phil. I can honestly believe it. A forever home.”

Phil groaned and rolled his eyes. “That’s such a weird name. Why do you call it that?”

Dan laughed. “Because I want to spend forever there with you.”

Phil smiled. “That’s so stupidly cheesy.” But he kissed him anyway.


End file.
